My name is Dr. Allison J. Gong and I am a life-long Californian. I was the kid who was always staring at the ground looking for bugs and worms and things. Now I am a marine biologist, backyard beekeeper, columnist for Bay Nature Magazine, and college-level biology professor. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by living things, but it was my 7th-grade Life Sciences teacher who kindled my first academic interest in invertebrate animals. I studied biology in college and graduate school, focusing on marine invertebrate life cycles and reproductive biology. I work at Long Marine Lab, hang out at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, and get to get my hands wet in the ocean several days a week. Who can complain about that?
I have other biological interests, too, but I don’t want to give away all my secrets at once. Stay tuned!
All photos on this blog are mine, unless otherwise credited, and may not be used without permission from me. But don’t worry. If you ask to use them I’ll probably say “yes.”
For additional photos (warning: cats figure prominently) and other biological tidbits, follow me on Instagram: @ProfAlGong
Hi,
I’m hoping to use one of your images in a biology textbook. Can you contact me at [email protected]?
https://canaturalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/P4090053.jpg
Thanks!
I like your body of work represented in the blog. Maybe I missed it but are you represented on Facebook or Twitter?
Found both. Keep up the fantastic work.
Unable to reach out via contact me page.
Did you ever figure out a way to mount the Shell plates of Cryptochiton stelleri?
I found a dead chiton in San Pedro. I scrapped it out down to the girdle. I’m assuming the girdle needs to be removed too, or it will rot. I’d like to reassemble the plates in a manner that the mimics the plates ability to curl up. Thoughts?
Apologies if this response is too late to be helpful. Yes, the first step is to remove all of the tissue. The plates themselves will not rot but all of the tissue will. If you have access to one of the large sea anemones, you can try cutting out the plates and feeding them one at a time to the anemone. The anemone should be able to digest all of the organic tissue, leaving the plates themselves all nice and clean. If you don’t have access to an anemone, you can try boiling the plates to soften the tissue and then scrape off as much as possible. Then leave them in the sun so the remaining bits of tissue dry out. Eventually they will stop stinking.